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June 13, 2006

Why we still need affirmative action.

I’ve done a lot of reading over these many years about how America is finally "past" it’s racist tendencies. We don’t need affirmative action the theory goes because we no longer care about race. Now, as it happens, I have a hard time even believing that race" describes a real phenomenon. As it also happens, I’m in the distinct minority...

Racism is a word we use to describe the phenomenon of looking at another person who has certain physical differences and seeing someone who is less human than you are. It is a failure of empathy. As such it not only dehumanizes the victim, but also the perpetrator...

It took me decades to understand these signs; the point seemed self-evident. It was not self-evident to the people the signs were directed at (my parents and grandparents)—which is why they were treated like “n-----s”, rather than like cohuman beings. Perhaps some day this whole sorry species of ours will get it right. In the mean time the victims of Katrina become the victims of America—and we all deserve to burn for it...

(Mother jones link via Ezra Klein

Posted by Andrew at June 13, 2006 12:44 PM

Comments

Just take a walk to the nearest unemployment office of a nearby city if you want to know whether there is still racism.

Posted by: Scorpio [TypeKey Profile Page] at June 13, 2006 08:48 PM